Court imposes fine for racist slur against soccer player

German court has fined a 32-year-old man for a racist poster campaign against soccer player Gerald Asamoah in the run-up to the World Cup in 2006.

The district court in Rottweil sentenced the man to pay a fine of 3,000 euros ($4,400).
"The defendant's point was to defame people of color against those with white skin," said Michael Zange, the chief judge at the district court in Rottweil.
In the run-up to the World Cup, held in Germany in 2006, right-wing extremist posters appeared in Freudenstadt and the Zollernalb district south of Stuttgart comparing Asamoah to an ape. Asamoah, who was born in Ghana, played on the national team, at the time.
A local court in Horb and the Rottweil district court had previously sentenced the defendant to a fine of 1,200 euros. The man, who claimed he was innocent, then appealed to the higher regional court in Stuttgart. In May 2009, it ruled that the previous sentences for insulting the player had been too light and remanded the case back to Rottweil to be reheard as incitement to a hate-crime.
Asamoah currently plays for German Bundesliga first division team FC Schalke 04.